Practical Tactical B.O.L.T. Kit: What It Is And What It’s For

You’ve probably heard of a Bug Out Bag (BOB) or a Get Out Of Dodge (GOOD) bag that can be used as a grab and go kit in case you have to leave an area during an emergency situation. At Practical Tactical, we urge our clients to build what we call a B.O.L.T. (Basic Operations for a Limited Time) Kit. This mobile kit based on the basic tenets of preparedness: shelter, water, food, fire, comms/defense and psychological…it is geared towards executing your plan that was developed based on the threats in your area and your individual circumstances and will allow you to maintain your Basic Operations for a Limited Time as you BOLT to your next location that will hopefully be your safe haven from the immediate threat.

Now, what makes our B.O.L.T. Kit any different from every other Bug Out or GOOD Bag out there? A focused philosophy, that’s what. Often when people talk about emergency bags (regardless of what you call them) the idea starts out the same…put together a bag of essential items like food and water in case you have to leave in a hurry because of an emergency that will help you survive the event…simple, right? But from there, things tend to spin out and become ever more nebulous. Inevitably you end with Jack the Survivor strapping a pack to his back that contains everything from his favorite comic books to ammo for his Barrett 50 cal. which by the way, he has lovingly cradled in his arms as he treks into the wilderness to live off the land for the duration of the apocalypse, and if you don’t do that too you’re doomed to fail miserably and die immediately or be swallowed up by the very mindless hordes you were trying to escape in the first place.

Whew! Just thinking about that was exhausting.

The point is this. With so many variables involved in any possible future evacuation scenario, it is very easy to quickly become overwhelmed and intimidated simply by the thought of it all. Nobody wants to leave their home, but the SHTF every day for someone and you never know when you might be the one standing in front of the fan. So why not face reality and prepare yourself as best you can to be able to meet the challenge should it ever come knocking at your door at 4 am on some random Tuesday night by taking a focused approach to the task at hand, and that’s getting you and your family out of harms way in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

At Practical Tactical, we believe in developing a plan in advance of the chaos that will keep you from becoming a refugee should you ever have to leave your home due to an emergency. We think of it as the software to go along with the hardware (read as gear) of preparedness. If you leave you home or primary residence without a definite destination and a well thought out and practiced plan on how to get there, you have instantly become a refugee and that’s a bad spot to be in. During a time of crisis, history has shown us that the life of a refugee is cold, hard and short. Whatever you do, you do not want to become a refugee.

Now, if you have grown up in the woods and have years of experience living off the land out there and that is the plan you choose to craft, kit and employ, that’s fine. But let’s be honest, that’s not most people. And that’s okay. Developing a plan that calls for you to relocate to another more “permanent” location is just as viable an alternative, but must be crafted, kitted out and employed just the same. Where you go, what you do and how you do it are all parts to this formula that each of us must decide for ourselves. Be it another piece of land that you own or if you have planned ahead of time to go to a friend or relative’s home outside the impacted area, in our view a definite destination point is vital and that is where a thought out and well built B.O.L.T. kit comes in to play.

Read below as we further lay out what a B.O.L.T. kit is and what it’s for. Keep in mind that the list you will find below should be considered a starting point and is in no way the end-all-be-all of mobile emergency kits, nor should it be viewed that way. It is simply our goal to get you to think a little differently about what it means to have to evacuate and how to best develop your plans going forward.

B.O.L.T. Kit (72+ hrs as you go from point A to point B)

Bugging out, getting out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.), emergency evacuation….they all mean essentially the same thing. Something’s gone down in your area, it is no longer safe for you to stay there and you have to leave your home in a hurry. This is counter intuitive in every way for most of us. Your home is your safe place. None of us would make this option our first choice, but that doesn’t mean some situation might arise that will force us out and that is why we strongly suggest you have a B.O.L.T. Kit prepped and ready to go for each member of your household. This mobile kit will allow you to maintain your Basic Operations for a Limited Time as you B.O.L.T. to your next location that will hopefully be your safe haven from the immediate threat. We cannot control when, where or how disaster will strike, but we can control how prepared we are to deal with disaster. There is a fine line between order and chaos and sometimes that line can be measured in seconds. When every second counts, having a plan and the tools to see that plan through are crucial to survival. As the name implies, your B.O.L.T. Kit is the tactical advantage that will help get you through and past any emergency situation.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

Natural disasters
• Hurricane
• Tornado
• Flooding
• Winter storms
• Earthquake
Fire (wildfires, neighboring buildings)
Extended power outage
Chemical spill
Infrastructure failure
Terrorist attack

Your B.O.L.T. Kit should be a backpack. This will allow you to keep you hands free to deal with any other challenges you might face as you put your emergency plan into effect. Your pack should be large enough and sturdy enough to carry all the gear you will need to sustain you for at least 72 hours of independent survival and comfortable enough to carry for long periods of time. As mentioned above, your B.O.L.T. Kit is the gear you will need, based on your plan, to get you from point A to point B and away from the immediate threat that is built by you. You can easily extend the gear in you kit to sustain you for a longer period of time if you choose to do so. Your kit should be ever-evolving and based on your needs, wants and tastes and any B.O.L.T. Kit is better than nothing at all in an emergency.

Water (1 liter/day minimum)
Water filter / purification tabs
* Three options of boiling, filtering and chemical treatment will give you flexibility in securing one of the most basic survival needs
Stainless steel water container
Energy bars and/or other packable/portable foods
* Dehydrated camping meals
* MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)
* Canned goods or Soups
* Meal bars / Energy or Candy bars
Small cooking kit/Small metal pot
Spork / utensil
Metal cup
P38 Can Opener
Lightweight backpack stove with fuel
Hiking Boots / Walking Shoes / Wool Socks
Change of clothes / Weather appropriate (rotate seasonally) and Underwear
Ear plugs / Gloves / Hat / Sunglasses
Rain gear
Military poncho (can be used as shelter)
Emergency blanket (can be used as shelter)
Waterproof rip-stop tarp (can be used as shelter)
Lightweight camping tent
Lightweight (small pack) sleeping bag (30 degree)
Fire starting capabilities (lighters, tinder, etc.)
Quality Multi-tool
Quality knife and Knife sharpener
Binoculars
Flashlight / Headlamp with extra batteries / glow sticks
First Aid kit / Insect repellent
Hygiene kit (including toilet paper)
N95 face mask / bandana / shemagh / scarf / etc.
Fully charged cell phone
Emergency radio (battery or hand crank)
Maps of local areas (pre-marked with multiple routes home) / Compass
Pen and Paper
Copies of Important documents (driver’s license, social security card, account & phone numbers, medical information)
Self-Defense Items (in accordance with your local laws and personal comfort level)
Cash (stored in several places; DO NOT show all your money at one time)
Rescue signal items
200 feet Parachute cord
Duct tape
Sewing kit
Heavy duty garbage bags

So just to recap:

**Decide on a definite destination (with multiple alternatives depending on the crisis) should you ever have to leave your home
**Get a plan on how to reach those destinations
**Build a B.O.L.T. kit tailored to fit your plan and review the contents every six months
**Practice your plan before you need it

Semper Paratus!

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